Robert De Niro is bringing a musical version of his 1993 directing debut A Bronx Tale to the stage, according to Entertainment Weekly.
The period crime drama was the two-time Oscar-winner’s debut as a director and is considered one of the best gangster movies of the 1990s. De Niro will co-direct the stage version at New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse, working from a script by the film’s star, Chazz Palminteri. New music has been provided by eight-time Oscar winner Alan Menken, best known for Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and Pocahontas, while lyrics are from Menken’s Tony-nominated regular collaborator Glenn Slater.
Casting details for the new production are unclear, but the original A Bronx Tale starred Palminteri and De Niro as mobland mentor and caring father respectively to the story’s protagonist, youthful wannabe gangster Calogero “C” Anello. The film was itself based on Palminteri’s one-man show, drawn from the actor’s own childhood experiences growing up in New York.
Palminteri, who is well known for his mobster roles, has a part as Angelo Bruno, the head of the Philadelphia crime family, in Brian Helgeland’s upcoming Kray brothers drama Legend, which stars Tom Hardy as both siblings. De Niro will soon star opposite Jennifer Lawrence in David O Russell’s Joy, and as the title character in comedy Dirty Grandpa, with Zac Efron. There have also been reports that he will portray motor-racing impresario Enzo Ferrari in a forthcoming biopic.
A Bronx Tale debuts at the Playhouse on 4 February, running until 6 March.
